This development project for a major housing complex was conceived as forming a multifunctional neighborhood, inspired by a view of social factors that was very much in the spirit of its time. The difficulty here was to establish structures at once complex and flexible, capable of rapidly assimilating and even facilitating the changes of everyday historic reality.

The project applies the modular system developed by the team RBTA in earlier schemes, combining cubic volumes. The outcome is never a juxtaposition of identical housing blocks. The distribution of the volumes, both in plan and elevation, is based on strict geometrical laws, pursuing...

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City in the Space

Description

Project: City in the SpaceYear: 1970Location: Madrid, Spain

This development project for a major housing complex was conceived as forming a multifunctional neighborhood, inspired by a view of social factors that was very much in the spirit of its time. The difficulty here was to establish structures at once complex and flexible, capable of rapidly assimilating and even facilitating the changes of everyday historic reality.

The project applies the modular system developed by the team RBTA in earlier schemes, combining cubic volumes. The outcome is never a juxtaposition of identical housing blocks. The distribution of the volumes, both in plan and elevation, is based on strict geometrical laws, pursuing diversity yet avoiding any sensation of the spontaneous growth of the structures.

The City in Space project represents for RBTA the city of the future, the synthesis of geometric and volumetric configurations proposed so as to achieve the desired result. RBTA was at the time particularly involved with the grouping of housing in neighbourhoods, and then in towns. After completing a specific number of formal structures (whose interiors allowed for a complete blending of lifestyle and diverse usage), the real possibility existed of formal constructions responding to aesthetic innovation.

Flexibility was the key factor, as the support structure did not coincide with the formal structure and ambiguous and superfluous areas were brought into focus. The team was committed in principle with the cubic grid, since construction methods were based on the three orthogonal axes; also the search for a system of grid proliferation for the urban complex or neighbourhood. This should not result in a juxtaposition of specific geometric patterns, but should rather develop organically in space, according to definitive geometric laws.

The grouping of cubic modules in the City in Space project was achieved using a method of form growth specifically studied so that each unit would have maximum contact with the exterior and would extend the line of sight. Further, an elevated complex of true streets, squares and arcades has been created without affecting the cost of construction. Thus, with the increase in density, the area becomes more open and porous, more aerated and svelte.

The City in Space project guaranties a mixture of functions; 50% of the space on each floor is reserved for communal use, circulation and gardens, allowing for creation of streets and squares over ground, terraces for the dwellings, communication between areas by elevated walkways; the ground floor being reserved for services and parking. Although the density was relatively high, it was absorbed by the vertical distribution.